One key benefit to building colour files is the ability to re-use that colour over and over again. There are many ways to add colours to a colour file, including drag and drop. In addition to the methods outlined below, you can drag and drop colour chips from anywhere in the software to a colour file. 

Adding colours using a colour picker

New colours can be created and added to colour files in a variety of ways in ColourSys. This article details how to add colours using a colour picker.

1. In ColourSys, go to Colour Menu > Pick. The selected colour picker will open. To learn how to change the selected colour picker, click here.
2. Move the cursor around the picker to select the colour you want, and click OK. You will be prompted to name the colour. The last name used will be shown as default. The new colour will be added to the colour file.

For improved accuracy, all colours created with colour pickers include synthetic reflectance data.

Adding colours from Lab values or reflectance data

If you know the Lab values or reflectance values of a colour you can use them to add the colour to a colour file in ColourSys.

1. In ColourSys, go to Colour Menu > New Chip. A window will open showing the values of the last colour used.
   
   
2. Enter the values of the colour you require, as follows:
   • select the appropriate mode from the pop up bar on the right of the window. You can choose from Lab, XYZ, Yxy or RAL (Eurocolor).
   • if you have reflectance data, click on the graph at the bottom of the window to reveal the reflectance data fields and enter the values.
     
     
3. Name the colour and click OK.

Adding colours using the Sample Chips feature

A multi-functional window, the Sample Chips feature helps you blend two colours together, or find subtle alternatives to a particular colour.

1. In ColourSys, go to Colour Menu > Sample Chips…  The Blend Chips Window will open.
2. Drag the colours you want to blend together into the Start and End colour chips in the Blend Chips Window.
   
   
3. Enter the number of blends required in the Number of chips box. This number includes the start and end colours.
4. Enter a prefix if necessary.The prefix, as its name implies, is pre-pended to the name of every chip added in the blend. By using different prefixes it is possible to keep sets of blended chips together in the colour file.If you do not use a prefix and you blend two or more sets of colours, the blended colours will all be mixed up in the colour file because of the chip numbering used.
5. Activate the colour file that the chips must be added to. This can be a new, or existing colour file.
6. Click Add Chips. The blended chips will be added to the selected colour file. They will be numbered 000, 001, 002, 003 and so on.
7. Double click the new chips to rename them, if required.